When George Smitherman finally decided to make a policy announcement last Friday, reporters flocked to the frontrunner’s booth at the Green Living Show to hear the news. Cameras whirred. CP24 carried it live. Three weeks after his new campaign manager vowed to “unleash” his candidate for mayor, a whiff of danger was in the air.
Then the former deputy premier they call Furious George, renowned for steamrolling his opponents, opened his mouth – and made a passionate case for doing nothing. He vowed not to sell Toronto Hydro, a recycled pledge he had already “announced” in the media and at a debate.
If this is George unleashed, his rivals must be wondering if his bark is bigger than his bite.
Four months of low-key stumping haven’t served Mr. Smitherman well. He’s already lost one campaign manager and 10 points in the polls. Now, with Rob Ford nipping at this heels, he’s only starting to bare his teeth.
Conventional wisdom says a front-runner like Mr. Smitherman is smart to exercise restraint, that he’d leave himself open to criticism by unveiling a platform six months before the Oct. 25 election.
If I was his campaign manager, I wouldn’t recommend doing anything bold. In fact, I’d be afraid to. — Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto
But Bruce Davis, the campaign’s gregarious new manager, said his candidate has no fear. That tentative start had nothing to do with playing it safe, he insisted. Instead he was researching his positions and formulating policies.
“There is an expectation of us that the others do not face. George Smitherman is going to be the mayor, okay?” he said.
“We can’t just go out tomorrow and say willy-nilly that we’re going to build subway lines, okay?” he added, a dig at Mr. Ford’s thinly sketched plan to tap the private-sector to pay for an expanded subway network. “You can’t do that. Not if you’re going to be the mayor. If you’re going to be the mayor, you better damn well know how you’re going to pay for them.”
Though Mr. Smitherman remains in first place with 34 per cent of the vote, according to the latest Angus-Reid poll, his number is down 10 points from 44 per cent in January. More important, his lead over the second-place candidate – Adam Giambrone in January and Mr. Ford in April – has shrunk from 26 points to seven.
That’s remarkable when you consider how much better qualified for the job Mr. Smitherman is on paper than several of his gravitas-defying rivals.
Trouble is, four months into the race, voters still don’t know what Mayor Smitherman would do for Toronto. Before the Hydro announcement, he had proffered just two detailed policy ideas that weren’t answers to questions from reporters or debate hosts.
In early February, he promised to relegate councillors to a minority on a TTC board that would include private-sector experts and riders. At the end of March, he promised to create 15 “signature parks” with input from citizen advisory councils.
Otherwise, Mr. Smitherman has put off taking a stand on anything real. Bike lanes? He’d pause the city’s cycling plan until he could evaluate it himself. Road tolls? He’ll discuss them, but won’t embrace or dismiss them. Finances? He’d review the budget line-by-line, but hasn’t identified what he’d cut. Outsourcing? He’s open to contracting out and selling some assets, but it’s too early to specify which.
That’s about to change, Mr. Davis vowed. “The tone we’re taking now is, ‘Let’s err on the side of going out and talking about things.’”
Indeed, the past week he has been in a relative frenzy, offering a few tentative ideas and a new colour scheme on his campaign website.
The day after his hall-of-mirrors Hydro announcement, Mr. Smitherman promised to press Ottawa to establish a national park in the Rouge Valley. On Thursday, he unveiled details of his water policy in a speech to the Great Lakes Symposium, promising to fix up the changing rooms at three local beaches, drastically increase the number of public water fountains in Toronto and partner with restaurants to ensure they serve tap water.
His image is also being buffed. A splashy new Smitherman website launched Wednesday night, replacing a “temporary” address. The campaign has a new purple colour scheme and a formal slogan: “For a Toronto that works. Again.”
As he left the office for the Great Lakes Symposium Thursday, Mr. Smitherman, sporting a striped purple tie, pulled out a glass jug and plunked it on a table next to Mr. Davis. “In Geneva, this is the way they serve you water in restaurants,” Mr. Smitherman said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Tap water.”
“It’s small,” Mr. Davis interjected, “but it’s important.”
